From BJC Staff Reports
WASHINGTON — A growing number of Americans think there is too much religious talk by politicians and that churches should keep out of politics, according to a national survey released March 21.
The survey of nearly 1,500 adults was conducted March 7-11 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents said there had been too much expression of religious faith and prayer from political leaders, while 30 percent said there was too little. These are remarkably different results than a 2010 Pew survey when 29 percent said there was too much religious talk and 37 percent said there was too little. In both the 2012 and 2010 surveys, nearly 25 percent said there was the right amount. The Pew Research Center reports that the number saying there has been too much religious talk from political leaders now stands at its highest point since it started asking the question more than a decade ago.
J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said that while you cannot divorce religion from politics, it is encouraging that a growing number of Americans are seeing the pitfalls that come with an overuse or misuse of religion for political purposes.
“Conducting campaigns with overt appeals based on religion and messages to voters that reflect religious prejudice, bias and stereotyping violates this country’s most fundamental values and ultimately threatens the protection of everyone’s religious freedom,” Walker said.
The survey also found that the majority of respondents — 54 percent — believed churches should stay out of politics, while 40 percent thought churches should express views on social and political questions. This is the third consecutive Pew poll conducted since 2008 suggesting that more Americans believe churches should keep away from politics. In 1996, the attitudes were nearly reverse of this year’s poll, when 54 percent believed that churches should weigh in on social and political questions and 43 percent believed churches should refrain from speaking out.
On the question of church involvement in social and political issues, there is sharp division among religious groups. Sixty percent of white evangelical Protestants surveyed said churches and other houses of worship should express views. Black Protestants are more divided, with 51 percent saying that churches should speak out while 43 percent say churches should stay clear of social and political issues. Majorities of religiously unaffiliated, Catholics and white mainline Protestants say churches should keep out of political matters.
Legally, Walker said, pastors are free to interpret and apply Scripture as they see fit, speak out on the great moral and ethical issues of the day, and urge good citizenship practices.
“One thing they can’t do in exchange for the most favored tax exempt status is tell the faithful how to vote,” Walker said.
The 2012 poll suggested that more respondents consider the Republican Party as friendly to religion compared to the Democratic Party, a trend that the Pew report says has existed for the past decade. Fifty-four percent considered the Republican Party as friendly to religion compared with 35 percent for Democrats.
The polling numbers on President Barack Obama’s friendliness toward religion largely have stayed the same in the past few years. In 2012, 39 percent of respondents consider Obama friendly toward religion, 32 percent consider him neutral and 23 percent against. The only one of these numbers that is remarkably different from an August 2009 survey is the percentage of respondents who believed the president was unfriendly toward religion. In 2009, 17 percent thought so.
